Shuttle for braiding



April 22, 1958 CARTEN 2,831,389

SHUTTLE FOR BRAIDING Filed May 23, 1956 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR Seouae 5. olden,

BY I

ATTORNEY A ril 22', 1958 G. T. CARTEN 2,831389 SHUTTLE FOR BRAIDING Filed May 23, 1956 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ATTORNEY April 22, 1958 Filed May 23, 1956 G; T. CARTEN SHUTTLE F OR BRAIDING 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR b1 aA/be/n,

SHUTTLE FOR BRAllDlNG George T. Carton, Milford, Conn.

Application May 23, 1956, Serial No. 586,876

(Ilaims. (Cl. 87--54) This invention relates to the art of braiding rugs and to implements facilitating the practice of that art.

Braided rugs are commonly made by sewing together side-by-side lengths of a three-strand braid made by intertwining strips of fabric that are usually folded lengthwise when braided. To obtain as tight an interlacing of the folded strips as is desirable it heretofore has been necessary to exert considerable finger pressure and arm strength in the braiding process making it a time consuming laborious operation which without aid of my present improvements tends to be tiring and monotonous.

As a further detriment, the unfolded separate lengths of flat fabric strips of material which are about to be worked into the braid have heretofore dangled loosely from the hands of the operator during the braiding operation. The braiding motion keeps them perpetually entangled and necessitates frequently repeated untangling. The necessity of performing these complicated manipulations all at the same time has militated against present day popularity of the colonial art of making braided rugs in the home.

An object of this invention is to speed up and reduce the tediousness fo making braided rugs by hand thereby to revive the popularity of the art and make more widely available a type of floor covering which is a highly prized household possession. t

A contributory object is to eliminate the former necessity for constantly untangling loose hanging lengths of the bare fabric strips While being handled in the braiding process.

A related object is to accomplish lengthwise folding of the initially flat fabric strips in a way to maintain their folded condition reliably until the folded strip becomes bound tightly into the braid that is being formed there from.

Another object is to provide an implement that is shaped to fit the hand in a manner to relieve the operators fingers of the need for strength formerly required in performing the braiding operation.

A still further object is to build a wider and profitable market for fabric strips that are by-products of a textile mill through sale of such strips packaged into rolls suit able for controlled paying off of the strip from a shuttle incorporating the present improvements.

The foregoing and other aims and advantages will appear in greater particular from the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention which description has reference to the appended drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 illustrates three shuttles incorporating the present improvements two of which are being manipulated in a braiding operation.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing one of the shuttles loaded with a supply roll of fabric strip to be dispensed therefrom.

Fig. 3 is a view looking in the direction of arrow 3 at Fig. 2 showing a fragment of the length of the strip progressively being folded.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view in side elevation showing 2,831,389 Patented Apr. 22, 1958 certain parts partially in section on the central plane 4-4 in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a still further enlarged view of the strip folding insert removed from the nozzle of the shuttle showing a portion of its side wall partially broken away.

Fig. 6 is a view looking at the smaller end of the strip folding insert.

Fig. 7 is a plan view of the insert.

Fig. 8 is a view taken in section on the plane 8-8 in Fig. 5 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 9 is a view taken in section on the plane 99 in Fig. 4.

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary view like Fig. 4 showing a modification of the strip folding structure at the nozzle outlet 19'.

Fig. 11 is an external plan view of the nozzle outlet of Fig. 10 showing the fabric strip emerging therefrom.

Fig. 12 is an end view of the nozzle outlet looking in the direction of arrow 12 in Fig. 10 drawn on an enlarged scale and with work removed.

Fig. 13 is a view on the same scale as Fig. 12 taken in section on the plane 13-43 in Fig. 10.

A preferred size for my improved shuttle 12 for purposes of the present invention is illustrated in Fig. 1 by comparison with the size of the hand of an operator. In

structure the shuttle 12 comprises what may roughly be nozzle portion 13 is horn-shaped and extends from the dispensing orifice 19 to the point where it merges into thinnish spaced apart fiat side walls 14 of flaring outline shape. Between walls 14 there is received a supply roll of flat fabric strip 15 wound upon itself in continuous length in close convolutions about a headed pivot pin 16. Pin 16 can take the form of a screw shank removably lodged or journaled in aligned notches 17 in the side walls 14 of the shuttle. By tightening a nut 18 on the screw threads of pin 16 the shell walls 14 can be drawn toward each other with a finely regulatable degree of squeezing pressure against the edges of the coiled fabric strip which form the flat side faces of supply roll 15. As will later appear, selective degrees of increased pressure can be the space therebetween, a strip guiding means or member 22 sufficiently distant from the nozzle wall of the shuttle to define cooperatively therewith a space 21 through which the fabric strip threads as it travels from the roll to the folding insert 23 so as to predetermine a constant direction in which the strip must always approach the insert through the passageway formed by said space.

The construction of insert 23 is best shown in Figs. 5 to 8. This insert is removably lodged in place by being wedged into the narrower portion of the tapering conduit formed by the horn-shaped dispensing nozzle 13 as best shown in Fig. 4. The insert is thin walled and likewise of tapering tubular nature comprising a funnel-like conduit lining having an inlet end of larger compass than its outlet end. For a substantial portion of its length the walls of insert 23 meet broadside forming a cross section of heart shape as shown in Fig. 6. This provides a strip folding fin extending radially into the conduit at or near the outlet orifice 1. The edges of insert 23 at its larger or inlet end are serrated to form springy tabs 24 which may flare slightly outward so as to bind somewhat against the interior surfaces of the nozzle 13 with releasable de tentive action that tends to stay the insert in the nozzle both rotatively and lengthwise.

For convenient finger grasp the shuttle is provided with 3. an outward projecting lip or flange 35 extending crosswise of the shuttle at the point where the side walls 14 merge with the nozzle portion 13.

Figs. 2, 3 and 4- best illustrate the converting of the flat fabric strip into folded form as it plays through the shuttle between strip guiding member 212 and the nozzle outlet l9; In this length of the fabric strip a mild tension can be maintained by frictional resistance of the side walls 14 against the strip roll 15. Thus it is seen that the hands of the operator, shown in Fig. 1, need not at any time come into direct contact with the fabric of the supply strip as the three shuttles are used, two at a time, to successively overlay and maintain overlapped the folded fabric strips played off from the shuttle. Braiding of even tightness results from the close proximity that can be maintained between the nozzle orifices l9 and the al' ready completed braid. There is also apparent the complete elimination of any bothering entanglement of loose hanging ends of unbraided strips on the opposite side of the hands of the operator from the braid since all of the supply strip remains compactly coiled and supported within the hollow confines of the shuttle.

It is to be noted in Fig. 4 that the notch 17 is interrupted by a hump 20 near the dead end thereof. This serves to retain the pivot pin in the notch even if the shuttle is so positioned that the notch opens in a downward direction. The pivot pin or bolt 16 can be fixedly lodged in side walls 14 or can be journaled therein so as to turn with the roll.

There can be substituted for the permanently spaced side walls 14 a shallow cupped formation of one wall providing a magazine cavity which if desired can be closed by a cover taking the place of the other side wall and that is removable to admit the roll 15 broadside into such cavity. In such modification the pivot pin 16 can be made as a rigid stud projecting fixedly from the cupped side wall, and the removable cover can have an aperture penetrated by said pin to take a retaining nut.

Fig. 1 makes apparent a convenient way of grasping the improved braiding shuttle by the use of either hand of the operator. Some finger of the hand will naturally contact the flange like the trigger of a pistol and thus improve the firmness of the hold upon the shuttle. The middle shuttle is shown to dangle unattended while the shuttle at the left will be pulled forward of the middle shuttle and moved past it toward the right to then occupy the middle position whereupon it will be released and left danglingly unattended while the left hand of the operator is transferred to the grasp of what initially was the middle shuttle in Fig. 1. Next the right shuttle is pulled forward and moved to the left past the newly arrived middle shuttle and so on, the weight of the unattended dangling shuttle always assisting in keeping tension established in the strip that has been played out therefrom.

When any roll of fabric material is exhausted the pivot pin 1a is removed and a fresh roll installed which may or may not come equipped with its pivot pin. If the fresh roll is without a pivot pin the old pin can be inserted therein and reinstalled in notches in. It is then a simple procedure to thread the free end of the fresh roll of strip through the passageway 2f, the conduit lining folding insert 23 and the nozzle orifie 19. The strip when so threaded through the shuttle can then be joined to the end of the strip that was left protruding from the previously formed braid and fastened thereto by stitches or otherwise.

In the modified construction of the shuttle 12' shown in Figs. 10-13, inclusive, the hollow shell of the shuttle has a dispensing nozzle portion 13' equipped with a radinlly disposed internal fin 26 which, it has been discovercd, will enable the nozzle portion of the shuttle to perform the strip folding function satisfactorily in the absence of conduit lining insert 23 of Figs. 47. For this purpose the internal surface of thetapering nozzle por- 4 tion should possess a smoothness equivalent to the surface of polished metal and such will be the case when the shuttle is composed of a molded plastic.

When so produced as in Figs. 10-13, the strip folding fin 26 is integral with the wall of the nozzle portion of the shell as shown in Figs. 11, 12 and 13. Corners and edges of the fin equipped conduit in the nozzle portion should be suificiently rounded to prevent any tendency of the conduit surfaces to catch in the mesh of the fabric of the strip 15.

Advantages of the all-plastic shuttle constructed as in Figs. 10-13 reside in simplicity, elimination of parts and the greater ease and thoroughness with which the nozzle outlet can be kept free of accumulations of lint. However there are also advantages in the construction of Figs. 1 8 in that a removable strip folding insert permits of its replacement for changing the cross sectional shape and size ofthe folding conduit thus to accommodate strip materials of differing firmness and flexing characteristics.

The appended claims are directed to and intended to cover the modifications herein mentioned as well as all other equivalents of the particular shapes and arrange ments of parts herein disclosed which come within the broad concept of the invention as defined in the claims.

I claim:

l. A shuttle for holding, folding and dispensing fabric strip for making braid comprising, a hollow shell having walls forming a sufiiciently open magazine portion of the shuttle to receive and store a roll of flat fabric strip and forming an adjoining tubular tapering nozzle portion of the shuttle affording a conduit terminating in an orifice through which said strip may progressively be payed out lengthwise from the shuttle, a strip folding fin extending radially inward of said conduit from the wall of said nozzle portion near said orifice and aligned with the direction of travel of said strip through said conduit, strip guiding means bridging the hollow of said shell at a distance from said fin located and disposed to define a passageway for said flat :strip sufiiciently narrow to inhibit folding thereof in said passageway and to determine the direction in which said strip shall approach said fin after leaving said roll irrespective of the extent of depletion of the latter, and a device preventing escape of said roll from said magazine portion of the shuttle disposed to engage and anchor said stored roll of strip therein in a manner to permit turning of said roll for the paying ofi of said strip therefrom.

2. A shuttle as defined in claim 1, in which the said strip folding fin is integral with the said wall of the said nozzle portion of the said shell and comprises a projecting continuation of the material thereof.

3. A shuttle as defined in claim 1, together with a hollow thin-walled insert lodged within and lining the said conduit formed by the said nozzle portion of the said shell, said insert having an inlet end of larger compass than its outlet end and carrying the said fin.

4. A shuttle as defined in claim 1, together with a hollow thin-walled insert lodged within and lining the said conduit formed by the said nozzle portion of the said shell, said insert having an inlet end of larger compass than its outlet end and carrying the said fin and having springy tabs projecting from said inlet end of said insert sufiiciently flared outward to wedge against the internal surface of the said tubular nozzle portion of the shell.

5. A shuttle as defined in claim 1, in which the hollow of the said magazine portion of the said shell is relatively narrow and flanked by side walls and opens outward between the edges of said side walls to admit to said hollow the said roll of fabric strip.

6. A shuttle as defined in claim 5, in which the said roll retaining device comprises a fastener including a screw threaded spindle spanning the hollow between the said side walls having a head external to' one of said walls and engaged by a nut externally of the other of said side walls, at least one of said side walls being sutficiently limber and resilient to be deflectable by the tightening of said nut on said spindle into squeezing relation to the sides of the said roll for exerting friction thereagainst opposing turning of the roll.

7. A shuttle as defined in claim 5, in which at least one of the said walls is sufliciently limber and resilient to be deflectable toward the other of said side walls by linger pressure exerted by the users hand.

8. A shuttle as defined in claim 1, in which the said roll retaining device comprises a pivot pin spanning the hollow between the said side walls.

9. A shuttle as defined in claim 8, in which the said References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 495,266 Price Apr. 11, 1893 525,660 Kirkpatrick Sept. 4, 1894 l,473,790 Kwapil Nov. 13, 1923 2,187,830 Jones Jan. 23, 1940 2,755,514 Noguera July 24, 1956 

